


Road Dogs

by aenor_llelo, Alderous, Datasage, Falrisesi, InvaluableOracle



Series: For A Diamond Is A Marveled Thing [26]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: 25 Racoons, A New York Portal Incident But Not The One You Think, And They Were Brothers (Oh My God They Were Brothers), Blindness, Dog Racism, Forbidden Busking At Public Events, Friends to Lovers, Gem Fusion, Gemsong, God Forbid I Fall In Love With My Wife, Hotels, Ironic Dating Is Still Dating, Is It Still Sexual Tension If Neither Of Them Know It? Experts Weigh In, Literal Sleeping Together, MORE LIKE IDIOTS TO LOVERS AM I RIGHT LADS, Marriage, Oddly Pointed Remarks About American Food Joints, Other, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Road Trips, Street Fairs, The Oh Hellos are a good band, The Song "Greased Lightning" Is Always More Suggestive Than I Remember, and there was only one bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:28:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 9,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27392725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aenor_llelo/pseuds/aenor_llelo, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alderous/pseuds/Alderous, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Datasage/pseuds/Datasage, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Falrisesi/pseuds/Falrisesi, https://archiveofourown.org/users/InvaluableOracle/pseuds/InvaluableOracle
Summary: Road dog-A frequent or preferred travelling companion.-A best friend.orConnor and Adya finally have that spring break roadtrip.
Relationships: Connor Universe & Bismuth, Connor Universe & Steven Universe, Connor Universe/Adya Maheswaran
Series: For A Diamond Is A Marveled Thing [26]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1604959
Comments: 155
Kudos: 318





	1. The Thorn In My Side

**Author's Note:**

> This work is part of a series. You're going to have to read the previous parts.

* * *

Some well-intentioned human once wrote the words _be the person you needed when you were young._

He's not sure how well the metaphor holds up concerning raising an alternate version of himself like his son, but the point- the _point_ is, he remembers the things he needed. He remembers the things he wanted. He remembers what he did not have.

Steven does not resent Connor.

Connor gets to have many things. He gets to have a stable life. He gets to have friends his own age, he gets to choose things he wants. He gets to have people to rely on, he gets to know what to expect as he changes.

He gets to have a life and he gets to _grow up_ without the universe hanging over his head like an axe.

Connor gets to have a foundation. He gets to have Steven.

And Steven does not _resent_ that.

He does not resent that Connor has a base to build on, and he does not resent _being_ that base, he could never be bitter for that. He's... so, _so_ glad that Connor gets to have anything remotely close to what Steven knows he needs, and Steven is happy to provide it, it just...

...feels so _sad_ , sometimes, that's all.

Because no matter how hard everyone thought they were trying, no matter how hard they _did_ try, Steven had to raise himself since he was eight years old- because _no one_ had, or knew, or was even _willing_ to _be_ what he'd needed. 

And he understands that. He understands how uniquely impossible and _traumatizing_ his very existence was to so many people around him. Even still, they could have- have _tried_.

Someone... _anyone_... could have been the foundation he was forced to build himself. But no one ever was.

And by the time anyone was ready to be, it was already too late.

~~Sometimes, he wishes he could have talked to her. Just once. Just once.~~

* * *

**Connor**

How did your doctor's go?

it was

fine

What's wrong

NOTHING

is wrong

with me i'm fine

better than i expected, really

That's good!

but something came up, cane w

can you come over can w

can we talk

What is it?

no i mean

i need to see you i need to

i need to TALK to you

OK.

i'm sorry

it's stupid

it's all

It's not stupid.

it's stupid that i'm dragging out

i'm dragging you out to meet up

when we're talking right now

It's not.

It's really not.

it's stupid that i need you like i'm

SOME KIND OF FUCKING CHILD, I SHOULDN'T

BE SO

FUCK

FUCK FUC CUFKFUCK FUCK ING

USELESS FUCK I

i'msorry

You're not acting like yourself, Connor.

Seriously, are you okay?

I

i

i'm

not c

i'm sorry i just

please. dad

It's okay.

It's okay.

I'll come over.

Do you want me to go right away or

do you need a minute?

please just come

* * *


	2. And Clean Yourself Up, Would You?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brother to brother and father to son.

* * *

Thorn is taut and wired as Connor never was. Long fingered hands shake along the vivid red eyes of a sharp face. Rosy pink skin and blush pale hair.

...He really looks so much like her. Steven had forgotten that.

"You changed your hair," he says instead. "It's different then when I saw you in Connor."

**"I thought-"** Flexed white claws card through the hair that's been pulled back so thoroughly, tied to a short high ponytail that curls like a rose. **"I thought I should... clean up a bit. For being myself."**

"It looks nice."

Thorn lets himself have an aborted laugh. **"You're the first person to see me like this, you're..."** He looks off to the side. On his sharper face, his bright eyes are wide, open- frighteningly young. **"...I guess I wanted to make a good first impression."**

"Impression made, then." He hovers in a looming, cranish way as Steven walks inside. "Where's Con?"

**"He's out. Wolf is with him,"** Thorn adds as an afterthought. **"We are... testing his limit. But I- I think we're like _you_ now. I guess that's what I-" **

He trails off. His flat song loses its momentum, an uncertainty rising.

"Talk to me," Steven gently prods.

**"I don't know if I'm really allowed to ask, but..."** Thorn's mouth rises with a high squinting line. **"...can I talk to- the _both_ of you? Please. You're the only ones who get-" **Thorn flippantly gestures down his body. **"-this. I'm sorry, I know that's probably rude, but-"**

It's already done. 

_"_ _That's alright,"_ Sten cuts in. _"We don't mind."_

 **"At least not from you,"** Vendan finishes.

**"Okay, I-"** Thorn blinks with just a bit of shock. **"Okay."** He sits down across from them, taking a deep breath. **"I told Con we could split up,"** his dead song wavers. **" _I told him we don't have to fuse anymore._ "**

_"You-"_

**"- _what?_ "**

_"Is that-"_ Sten squints. _"-is that really what you want?"_

**"I don't-"** Thorn's song catches on itself. **"-I don't know, I just- I just _said it_ , and I- I think he's actually thinking about it for real now, and I-" **Thorn holds in face in his hands. **"- _fuck, he really is thinking about it._** **I mean, why wouldn't he? Why the fuck would he want to stay, y'know?"** A sad, bitter sound. **"It's my gem, right? He wouldn't have had to go through all that shit if I wasn't _glued_ to him like some kind of fucking PARASITE!"** he growls. **"He doesn't... he doesn't need me. If I let him go, he- he deserves that choice, doesn't he?"**

A soft, subtle sadness casts Vendan's face. **"And what happens to you, when he's gone."**

 _"What happens to you, when Connor is gone?"_ Sten presses.

**"...I don't know."** Thorn's hands flex uncertainly. **"I was supposed to be _her_... but I'm not. I was supposed to be _you_... but I'm not. I'm..." **

A sad, barking laugh.

**"...I'm nothing. I'm nothing."**

_"Thorn..."_

Sten's face twists uncertainly, eyes darting to Vendan. Vendan sighs wearily, leaning forward.

**"Thorn."** Pink eyes, red eyes. Both of them diamonds, crossing to cerise. **"Am I my brother's pain?"**

**"NO!"** It's almost heartbreaking, the faith Thorn places in him. **"No,"** Thorn goes on, more gently. **"You're not."**

_"Then why do act like you are Con's?"_ Sten mournfully asks. _"Why do you let yourself think you're such a burden to him?"_

To that, Thorn has nothing to say.

_"If this is what **you** want- what **both** of you want, we'll support that." _A small plea goes through Sten's eyes. _"But if you're only going through with this because you just think this is what he wants, you're only going to hurt yourselves."_

**"But..."** Thorn's song turns small. **"...what if he _does?_ "**

**"That's not something _you_ can know unless you actually talk to him," **Vendan softly scolds.

 _"And just for the record,"_ Sten half-smiles, _"I don't think he does. But it's still something you should talk about, okay?"_

Thorn nods.

_"You don't have to cry, Thorn. It's gonna be fine."_

**"I'm not crying,"** Thorn mutters as he determinedly stares literally anywhere else. **"Fuck off."**

_"There's our Thorn."_ Sten leans to jostle Thorn's shoulder. _"We'll see you later, alright?"_

 **"Whatever form that happens to take,"** Vendan reassures.

There's a brief flash of light, and _Steven_ , for a moment, is tall enough to take Thorn into his arms. "And I'll still be here no matter how it goes, alright?" He holds Thorn just a little tighter. "I'm still here."

**"Okay."** Thorn leans in just enough to rest his head on Steven's shoulder. **" _Okay._ "**

* * *


	3. For However Long, Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aeterna.

* * *

**"You look like Greg,"** Thorn blurts.

_"Do I?"_ Con looks at the mirror, at the pink of skin just slightly off from Thorn himself. The scattered wave of hair- dark russet brown, skirting rose red. _"The colors are a bit off, I think."_

**"The hair, it falls a little more like his."**

_"I suppose you're right."_ Con looks back to his brother. _" **You** look like our mother dearest," _his song notes a touch sardonically.

**"I'm sorry,"** Thorn whispers.

_"I can't help looking like Greg. You can't help looking like Her Celebrance."_ Con eyes Thorn from out of the corner of his vision. _"You pull the colors off better than she did, anyway."_

**"Glad to know I won't traumatize everyone that looks at me,"** Thorn scoffs. He leans down to Con. (It's strange, to be taller than him even by the smallest bit.) **"How was your day?"**

_"I haven't gotten sick. I think we were right."_

Con runs his hand over Wolf's fur.

_"Do you still want to split up?"_

**"Do _you?_ "**

_"I would not abandon you, brother."_

**"You don't- you don't have to stay for _me_. You have a choice, and if that choice is... without me, I'll have to live with that." **Something shutters behind Thorn's eyes. **"You've been chained to me our entire life, I... I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to be _free_."**

_"...Thorn, I-"_

**"Just, I- we don't have to be Connor if you don't want it, just don't _leave_ , that's all I'll ask. Please."** A dead song wavers. **"Please, _fuck,_ I- I know you hate me, but I- I don't _exist_ without you, _please_ , just-"**

For the first time in his entire life, Thorn's song well and truly breaks.

**"Please. Don't _leave._ "**

_"Thorn."_ Con takes his brother's face into his hands. _"Thorn, you **fucking** ballas brain. When the fuck did I ever say I wanted to leave?"_

**"... _I'd_ leave me," **Thorn whispers.

_"I'm not you. You can't fucking tell me what to do."_

**"I know."**

_"My Thorn. My other, my brother, my vein, my adma, my aeterna. My idiot bastard Diamond brother, I love you."_

**"Bullshit,"** Thorn finally says. **" _I_ love you."**

_"Yeah, well I love you more, **fucker**."_

**"You wanna fight me on that?"** The little backyard of Caercagna is small- small and lawless and spitefully alive, like the two halves of a Gem standing across from eachother under a vine-ridden arch, framed by a circle of stones. **"Here and now?"**

_"Fucking gladly."_ Stray lanterns sway along the sky. _"Because I would win."_

**"You're a liar, is what you are."** Thorn smiles with all the promises he's never made. **"And I'm going to spend the rest of eternity proving you wrong."**

Con is hidden colors and scattered eyes and too many fangs flexed in challenge. _"Not if I prove you wrong first, you dumb fucking rock."_

**Challenge...**

... _accepted._

Now and forever.

Connor stands alone and holds his own hands, surrounded by everything he's built and the idea of all he ever will, and whispers for no one.

" _I love you._ **I love you.** I love you."

* * *


	4. But Better Late Than Never

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valentine's is an illusion, and so is love.

* * *

"I got you Valentine gift." Adya looks off to the side. "Kind of. Very late."

"I forgot about that holiday, to be honest," Connor admits. "I wouldn't have noticed if you didn't get me anything."

"Yes, well- _I_ would have noticed. So..." She pushes the bundle towards him. "...late Valentine."

"Oh." Connor's stare is oddly blank. "Clothes. You..." There's a strange tilt to his head, "...got me clothes."

"I find by accident in the, ah- what is word?" Adya taps at her glasses. "Second store? Buy old things." It's one of those "varsity jackets"? Letter jackets? It's one of those letter jackets like the school footballers wear in the older American school movies. A nice dark red, with gold trim and black sleeves- but instead of a school letter, there's a little ice cream cat patch, sitting there like a badge. "Was very big size, I thought the color would be nice on you."

A little stilted, he shrugs it on, popping the collar into place. For a moment, he doesn't really say anything- his eyes just sort of shutter back and forth, like the click of a camera lens.

"I guess is weird to buy you clothes, Gem does not need it," she awkwardly concedes. "You don't have to like it."

"No, it's-" Connor's face softens, just a bit. "-it's _nice_. Thank you."

It shouldn't feel so _weird_ to see him smile at her. "Not a big deal, just late gift, is all."

"Well, if you're going to give me a gift, I may as well give you mine."

Adya sputters for a moment. "You don't _have_ to-"

"Too late," his dead song smiles, "I already did." His gem just barely shines as he clasps his hands together, and when he opens them he's holding the long handle of a warhammer. Not one of those giant, comic book ones- like a real-ass god damn warhammer. An elegant handle and a curved metal head- in this day and age, it could fly under the radar as a _very_ classy walking cane.

And if she ever could have had a favorite kind of weapon, it would have been something like this.

"You remembered," she whispers. "I tell you about this only once."

"Yes, well-" Connor almost laughs. "It was a pretty memorable conversation."

Said conversation was her, probably drunk, at some ungodly hour, rambling about her forgotten childhood ambition to be an old lady with a warhammer just so she could whack people with her unsuspecting 'cane'.

"Where did you even _get_ something like this?"

"I _might_ have run into dwarves during the campaign. They're excellent smiths."

"...Liar."

"No," he smiles, and his song lives to tease her, if only for a moment. "I would never."

"You are trying to sell me alien Lord Of Rings."

"I don't even know what that is!" he insists past his grin.

"One of these days," she mutters. "One of these days I'm going to make you sit through all those movies and then you'll be sorry."

He blinks, utterly confused. And then he laughs.

It's not one of his odd barking laughs- the way he always kind of sounded like a man laughing at gunpoint. This laugh is a bubbling, chiming sound that sinks into her skull until she's as dizzy as his smiles feel.

"Stars," his song breathes, "I missed you."

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> have you seen the cookie cat varsity jacket? it's adorable


	5. Your Head In The Clouds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's like he's a kid again or something.

* * *

"Clouds," he suddenly blurts.

Adya snickers. "What are you saying?"

They'd wandered into a street fair, and didn't exactly leave- besides, they might as well get as many experiences as possible. And it was fun!

It's just sometimes she forgets that Connor's kind of weird around a lot of human stuff.

"Cotton- cloud- what is _that?_ " Connor feebly gestures behind her, and she turns around to see... a candy vendor. It's this cloudy, stringy stuff, like _san papri_. 

"I think it's a candy." Her face brightens. "Oh, we could get some!"

"That sounds unsafe-"

But it was too late. She is already buying two entire swaths of it on cones, red and blue.

"I don't trust this." He squints down at his newly acquired cotton candy with all the suspicion reserved for a criminal mind. "It looks like insulators. Insulators and cotton."

"It's okay, silly puppy," she teasingly pats his shoulder. "I will eat the scary candy for you."

"Adya, wait-"

Bouldering past his paranoia, she stuffs a chunk of blue cotton candy into her mouth. Connor stares at her in mortified shock.

"See?" She waves the rest of her cone around. "Is fine. No poison me."

Connor hums vaguely.

"Eat." Adya gently pokes his face with his intended share. " _Un, un, un, un..._ "

She pokes at Connor until his instinct finally takes the better of him and bites at the object being pushed at his mouth. He freezes, wide eyed, with a bite of cotton candy in his mouth.

"Hah. Made you try it." She takes in his still frozen expression. "Are you okay?"

"It's _sweet_ ," his song whispers shyly.

"It's candy. It's supposed to be sweet."

"Oh."

She hides her face in her hands as she collapses into laughter. "You silly, stupid puppy. I would never poison you."

"Can we get another one?"

His song is shy and and it's like there's literal stars in his eyes when he dares to ask her, and she laughs all over again.

"Yes," she smiles, "we can."

* * *


	6. Permission Is Important

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remember to ask first, alright?

* * *

A human child runs towards Connor and Adya. "Puppy!" The child shouts.

"Aiden, Aiden hold on!" The child's harried father hobbles after them, catching their arm. "You can't just pet random dogs, honey. You have to ask first."

"Oh." Aiden looks very solemnly at Wolf. "Can I pet you?"

The father looks wearily at Connor and Adya. "I'm so sorry."

Instead of brushing the humans off like Adya half expected, Connor glances softly at the child. "It's alright," he gently concedes. "Just be nice."

"Be careful, Aiden," The father warns. "That's a pretty big dog."

"Wolf is very polite," Connor insists. "He might not like strangers, though, so-"

Wolf immediately flops on the ground to let the child pet at his head.

"I see," Connor whispers. "Betrayed by my own son."

* * *


	7. And There Was Only One Bed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Oh my god, there was only one bed.)

* * *

"Hey." Adya pokes Connor's shoulder with their room cards. "I get us hotel."

"It's been a long day." He leans out of the driver's window. "I could have done it for you."

"I don't want desk lady is racist. Also you are tall and scary."

"I'm _tall?_ "

Adya bursts out a brief laugh. "I'm not even going to answer that. Important is I have room. Is, ah-" She looks aside. "-I got one bed because that's cheaper?" Adya's words get faster as the red climbs up her face. "I hope that's okay since you said you don't need to sleep that much and you sounded ok with sharing a bed _I hope I didn't assume anything._ "

Connor blinks at the spiraling rant. "It's nice you got a room. Didn't think they'd be open this late."

"Many hotel open forever."

"Ah."

It's a whole song and dance, to get everything into the room and just get ready to go to sleep, and by the time she's run out of excuses to avoid the bed Connor's at least picked up a little bit of her discomfort. (She doesn't know why she thought he wouldn't- he's not an idiot, after all.)

"Is there not going to be enough room on the bed?" He moves to get up. "It's fine, I can move."

Adya gestures at the small room. "Move where?"

"I can fall asleep pretty much anywhere," he tiredly reassures, "I could fall asleep in this desk chair if I wanted."

"No! I don't want to be mean!"

"Really, it's fine-"

"Ugh, just sleep with me." Her brain stutters over what she just said. (Hopefully her face is not as red as it feels right now.) "I mean- uh..." She fumbles with her glasses. "...you look very tired. It's okay if not enough room, we can just kind of fall asleep on each other or something. We've done it before when we watch movies at dorm."

"That makes sense, I guess."

With that, he flops back onto the bed. He's so ridiculously large that if he hadn't been curling his legs a bit, he'd be taller than the bed itself. Still, crawling onto the bed and sharing the same pillow height, it was almost easy to forget how his body was set to inevitably wrap around her like a snake if it wanted.

"Are you going to stare at me until I fall asleep?" she whispers as she crawls closer in.

"Sorry." He ducks into his arms with a low chuffing noise. "You looked kind of nervous."

"I'm going to _keep_ being nervous if you're going to watch me like cat in my sleep." She reaches over to jostle at his hair.

"What are you doing?"

"You forgot to untie your hair," she half whines as she cards through the dense curl of his hair. (It's like cat fur, totally unfair.) "It would have gotten all tangled up for tomorrow."

"Th't soun's like a pr'blem for t'morrow me," he sleepily mumbles past the rising purr in his song.

"And you can _thank_ me tomorrow I take care of problem for you right now," she points out playfully as she runs through his hair.

"My wayward wife," his hum echoes down to her bones, "always taking care of me."

" _My_ wayward wife," she whispers right back, "too busy being nice to me to take care of yourself."

His breathless laugh trails down to a sleeping purr of song that echoes all around her until she finally closes her eyes.

* * *


	8. Because You Can't Punch The Clock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Learn from my mistakes, son.

* * *

**AD**

we're having lunch

You know you don't have to tell me everything

if you don't want to.

i'll do what i want old man

:(

sorry that was mean

Anyway, we're having lunch

adya found a sushi place?

i don't really remember what sushi is

do you

It's a rice thing and a lot of times there's fish.

WAIT ARE YOU GOING TO EAT THERE

yes??

Don't.

...why?????

Alot of sushi dishes have raw meat stuff in it, DO NOT

humans eat it all the time tho???

I Speak From Experience! Do not!

...

are you implying what i think you're implying

Probably!

YOU SAID THAT WOULDN'T HAPPEN IF I ATE MEAT

I said that wouldn't happen if you ate meat cooked! Very different!

I mean, still be careful with all foods, really.

Ichor is volatile stuff.

I Don't Recall This Being A Problem Before

We weren't a grown Diamond before, Connor.

And you had some catching up to do.

Suddenly I'd much rather eat ramen.

stars

how the fuck are we supposed to eat ANYTHING??

Every meal is a race against the clock for Steven Q Universe! :)

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> az has always been AD in connor's contacts. no he does not think about the fact that's one letter away from "dad", what are you a zircon-


	9. Presumptuous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People talk, you see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Accessibility warning for vision or reading impaired: this chapter contains minor passages with exotic formatting. These are deliberate stylistic choices and are not intended to be visually/verbally coherent.

* * *

It had been easy to forget, in Little Homeworld, that maybe the picture they painted together- a human and the Gem that towered over her- wasn't exactly the most normal thing in the world.

Not that it's _abnormal_ \- aliens exist. Aliens exist, and they exist on _Earth_ , and after that whole invasion thing last year it's not like people can really ignore it anymore.

But even still. A Gem, much less one walking around with a human, isn't an ordinary sight for the average person if they don't already live near a settlement.

"You're one of those rock people, right?"

Connor looks down and wonders if one of these days he's going to find out whether or not half-Diamonds can have heart attacks, because this human is _way_ closer than she'd sounded.

"Yes, I'm a-" Connor blinks out his shock. "-I'm a Gem."

"That's really cool!" Just like that, _another_ one suddenly pops out of nowhere like him talking is some kind of permission to walk closer. "Are you all tall like that?"

"I-" 

"What's your Gem type?"

"Please," he steps back, "I don't-" 

Something skirts on his arm and his song breaks into a million shattered pieces. There's another one, she's _touching his jacket._

"Woah, this feels so real!" _A teenager, she's a kid, she's just a kid, she doesn't mean it-_ "Don't you guys, like, not wear any real clothes?"

"I-I-I-"

He should say something, _anything_ , but all he can think is the hand thumbing circles on his jacket like an electric line of static on his body and he can't fucking _breathe-_

=<>=

And maybe Adya doesn't know that much about Gems. She's no scientist. She's no _expert_. But the sudden blankness on Connor's face while this small group of people is trapping him and _touching his clothes_ spells nothing good.

"There you are!" her voice cuts pointedly cuts through the little crowd. "I was looking everywhere for you." She gently squeezes his hand with a slight tug. "Come on, we're going to be late."

With just the barest nod, he staggers after her.

=<>=

"There's one of those outside theatres over there," she points somewhere his eyes are too tunneled to see, "we can go behind the bleachers."

Or maybe they've already gotten there- the light of the sun is dimmed and dappled, and she's stopped walking, holding his hands.

=<>=

Slowly, slowly, guiding them down to sit on the grass.

Her hand hovers over his jacket- she won't be presumptuous. Her hand slowly glides up and down the shoulders of his jacket, on the sleeves where that rude girl had so carelessly dug into him.

=<>=

The world is the sun, and the grass beneath them. It is the sound of old wood against the breeze and the soft, gentle hands soothing the phantom bruises sunk into his sleeves.

_Adya._ _Adya, Adya, Adya..._

=<>=

Something trills in the back of Connor's throat, an odd, cyclical thing. It might just be her name.

"Oh, puppy," Adya dejectedly sighs, "she hurt you, didn't she?"

"s̴ ̷h̷ ̵e̴-" Connor's song catches. "She didn't _mean_ to, she was a k-k-k-kid. She d-didn't know."

"She should have known better," Adya insists. "That wasn't okay for humans, either."

"It's not- it's not a Gem- Gem thing, it's _me_ , I can't-" A pitched noise breaks through Connor's song. "- _the humans_ , I _can't_."

=<>=

Adya pulls her hands back.

"It's not you," he whispers. "It's not you, it's never you." _My adma, my Adya, you could never. You would **never**_. "I'm sorry." He leans into her hand. "I'm sorry I'm like this."

"Well, _I'm_ not." She softly grazes his face. "So don't you dare."

"I would never," he dares to tiredly smile.

=<>=

"You know you don't have to wear it every day," Adya points out as she gently strokes the seams of the red letter jacket she gave him.

"And you don't have to wear the hair pin I made you every day."

"You stop that-"

* * *


	10. Meet The Parents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The most important Bismuth.

* * *

"You never call, you never write." A broad, _broad_ Gem leans her massive hand over her doorframe. "Why I _mighta_ thought you'd gone and forgotten about little ol' me down here."

"It's a civil war out there, Bismuth," Connor flatly responds. "It's not like we get normal vacation days."

"Mm- _hm_. And now yer crawlin' back to the ground with all us common rocks to _grace_ us with your presence." Bismuth's stern frown cracks into an easy smile. "I'm kidding. It's good to see ya, get on in."

For such a rough and tumble built Gem, the house she lives in is small and orderly. Tools with dedicated racks, meticulously labelled trash boxes, and perfectly pinned blueprints floating about on their screens next to a large desk that has a worn, rose-emblazoned flag behind it.

Bismuth dresses a bit nicer than most construction-grade Gems. Her clean white shirt folds up to her elbows and buttons down just enough to flaunt the gem on her chest, and there's a crisp arm band on her left with a star and triangle that must be her personal brand, if the tag on her desk is anything to go by. She dusts one hand on the red and pink apron tied around her waist, and drags the other through her half-tied hair.

"Not that I ain't happy to see you, Connor, but it's a bit of a surprise." She flicks her eyes to Adya. "And you've brought on a _friend_ , too."

Connor gives an aborted laugh. "Yeah." He pulls Adya close. "Adya, this is Bismuth Facet-J24 Hopper-D37A. She's the Empire's overseer for Earth, does smithing and building on the side."

" _On the side,_ " Bismuth scoffs. "Like that ain't a solid 75% of my daily grind. One of these days they gonna run out of public works projects for me to do and finally vote me outta office."

"I'd give it another 50 years," Connor snarks.

"Maybe if I put _you_ to work again, it'll happen faster." Bismuth turns to stage whisper to Adya. "Y'know this boulder brain used t' live with me? Tiny little fleck, too." She punches at Connor's shoulder. "I had to put him to work so he'd get all proper big and strong."

Adya suddenly imagines an impossible Connor, the size of a child, and tries not to let her heart hurt at the sight of it.

"Okay, _mom_ ," Connor's song drags, "you can stop that. I didn't bring her here so you could put me on your anvil."

"Then who _is_ this fine young lady you've brought over here, hmm?" Adya tries not to blush at the sweeping look Bismuth gives her. "It's not like you to drag a pretty face home."

"Adya is..." Connor's song trails softer as he holds her hand. "...my wife."

Bismuth blinks.

And a wicked, barrel-chested laugh starts rising out of her song.

"You stop that," Connor weakly protests.

"HOW ON EARTH-" Bismuth wheezes, "-DID YOU MANAGE THAT?"

"Okay, _ouch_."

"I'm trying to imagine," Bismuth snickers, "the _romance_ that happened here. Gotta be honest, Connor, you did _not_ strike me the type for it."

"Oh, please, it's not _like_ that. It's..." Connor ducks down with a reddened face. "...it's complicated, okay?"

"I was in a bad spot," Adya adds, "and this got me out of it. We aren't, uh-" She laughs nervously. "-it's not like we're in love or anything."

"A likely story," Bismuth squints. "That I will also choose to totally believe!" she finishes brightly.

She gently pats Adya's head, and her hand nearly threatens to drown Adya's entire face. "It's nice to meet you, anyway. If Connor likes you, I'll like you, too. Sound fair?"

Adya laughs. "I can live with that."

"Then I think we'll be seein' alot of eachother goin' forward." Bismuth leans back to stretch out her shoulders. "Now, I know I'm no Steven, but I can work an oven real nice and I've really been gettin' behind that whole _pizza_ thing. Y'all wanna stay for dinner?"

=<>=

"I liked her," Adya comments as she turns to him in her car seat. "She was nice."

"She's an old rock," Connor smiles. "They've got songs for her from way back in the Gem War. She, uh... she was the one that looked after me, before I had my own place. I- she wasn't joking when she said I was small."

He grips at his steering wheel.

"I was _sick_ , basically, when Az found me. All sick and small and banged up, and my head was in a bad place. I couldn't be left on my own, but Az didn't have the time to do it himself, so I stayed with Bismuth. She kept a roof on my head and gave me work to build my body back to where it should have been. I..." His eyes squint with an unidentifiable emotion. "...I owe her alot. So I guess I wanted you to meet her, at least once, y'know?"

_Oh._

"She's kind of like your mom or something."

"...Yeah," Connor softly replies, with just a little touch of shock. "I guess she kind of is."

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bismuth: one of these day's i'll run out of public works projects and they'll finally realize i have no political skills and i'll finally, _finally_ be voted out of office  
> bismuth: but first, another public works project-


	11. The Sun Also Rises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes people just want to know.

* * *

**SJ**

My Diamond, I would request an update on your welfare.

i'm alright

How is your mission?

it's not really a mission

more of a leave of absence than anything

i'm just spending time with adya

Have I met Adya?

i don't think so, actually

I see.

do you want to

I do not control your actions.

well yes

but do you want to meet her

we're still in the area

YOU ARE?

sorry

You don't need to go out of your way.

maybe i just want to see you, my

Oh.

I want to see you, too.

there you are

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should probably mention that you can assume any texts between two gem characters are occurring in gemglyph


	12. Coming Out Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor tries to be honest.

* * *

"I'm realizing," Connor starts, "we're really different, aren't we?"

"Well-" Adya considers the literal foot of difference between them. "- _yes._ "

"I mean- there's things _you_ think are normal, and stuff _I_ think is normal." He runs a hand over his hair. "Stuff we don't say until we end up accidentally freaking eachother out."

Adya remembers that time during Christmas break when Connor opened the shower curtain on her. "I guess. What are you getting at?"

"There's something about me that I'm realizing you should probably know. Do you-" Connor idles for a moment. "-do you know about fusion?"

"Kind of. Steven and Connie turned into one at the wedding, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. It's when multiple people combine into something different. And if the people in that get along really well, sometimes... they could stay like that forever. They become that new person and they just _stay_ like that. I..."

Connor looks to the side.

"... _I'm_ a fusion."

"Oh." Adya leans back. "Oh, _wow_. You- uh-" She stutters for a moment. "- _how many are you?_ "

"It's just the two of us." Connor holds his hands together. "We were born fused. We've been _Connor_ longer than we've been anything else. I didn't even know what we were until really recently, and, we..." His song trails off. "...we unfused for the first time about a week ago."

"Huh." Adya shakes her head a bit. "Sorry if I'm weird about it, this is... so _sudden._ "

"I'm still Connor," he softly says. "I've always been Connor. I'm just..."

"...also a little something else," Adya finishes. "Why did you tell me this _now?_ "

"We, uh-" Connor's song shifts to something shy. "-now that we can unfuse, I guess we wanted to introduce ourselves properly. If- if that's okay?"

"Is... is it okay for you to be apart like that?" She nervously asks.

"It's okay if it's you."

_How dare_. How dare he get all soft and honest like that.

"Okay. I want to see you."

=<>=

_Fusion is like cakes,_ Connor would later say. Separate ingredients combining into a whole that is different than its components- but those components can be seen in the final product.

She can see Connor in Con and Thorn.

_"Thorn, please."_ Con looks up at his literal other half. _"You're embarrassing the both of us."_

Thorn, for his part, stands with the tense energy of a vibrating scarecrow, wide red eyes looking down at Adya. **"Hi,"** he half whispers.

Where Thorn was tall and rakish, Con was dense and broad. The borderline lavender set of his skin throws Connor's white marbled scars in sharp relief across Con's face, unruly hair threatening to fall over his eyes.

_"Sorry about that,"_ Con sleepily apologizes. _"I guess we're excited."_

She hasn't met that many fusions- the only one she really knows about is _Garnet_ , and she...

"...Are you guys in love?" Adya slowly asks.

Con and Thorn look at eachother in silence for a moment. And then slowly start laughing.

"Don't make fun," Adya whines, "was serious question."

**"I'm sorry,"** Thorn unsteadily laughs, **"it's just so _off._ "**

_"Not a strand of sappho between us, Adya, not a single strand,"_ Con clarifies past bubbling giggles. _"You could call us brothers more than anything."_

"Oh, good," Adya almost sighs with relief. "Worried I am married to you is destroying your marriage or something."

**"Stars, no."** A soft smile crosses Thorn's sharp face, made boyishly earnest by his wide bright eyes. **"Connor's feelings are _our_ feelings."**

_"We're more than glad to be married to you,"_ Con's own smile follows. _"It's not a burden to be tied to a friend."_

"You stop that," Adya mutters. "You're being sweet and I hate it."

**"No,"** Thorn replies.

 _"I don't think I will,"_ Con finishes.

"You stop that-"

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Hey." Adya grabs his hand. "You look great together."
> 
> Connor ducks his head and smiles.


	13. Is That Jealousy I Hear?

* * *

"So..." Adya tries to casually inject, "you and Sunrise are very close."

"Of course," Connor softly smiles, "I love her."

Ah.

"How long have you two... known eachother?"

"Her entire life." He stuffs his hands in the jacket Adya gave him. "I made her."

"Oh." Adya blinks with a sudden realization. " _Oh._ I kind of thought she was like, your second girlfriend or something," Adya shyly admits. "I know Gems do that sometimes."

~~Why was she even upset before he'd said that? It's not like her and Connor are _actually_ married or anything.~~

"Stars, no," Connor sighs. "She's basically my daughter, really."

_Congrats, Adya. You married a single dad._

"Wait, does that kind of make me her mom?"

"I..." Connor looks down back at her. "...I don't see why that would? She's _mine._ I just thought it'd be nice if you were friends or something." He ducks down with a little laugh. "Sorry, that's probably weird, bringing my kids into this."

"I liked her," Adya reassures. "I don't know if she liked me, though? Was staring alot."

"She _did_ like you. That's why she was staring."

Adya snorts. "Oh my god. That's terrible."

"Don't be mean," Connor mock scolds, "she's trying her best."

"It's like a baby."

"Well, she _is_ turning one in a few months."

"You're joking."

"No, I would never," his song teases. "How could I ever lie to you? My walking, talking child larger than a grown man is a mere 10 and a half months old."

"One of these days," Adya giggles as she pushes at his shoulder, "one of these days I'm going to find out you're lying to me and I am kicking you in the kneecaps."

"You're always welcome to try, _adma_."

* * *


	14. Like The Dawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Busking is a fun little game, isn't it.

* * *

"People are staring," Connor whispers as he takes out his guitar.

"They will always going to stare," Adya laughs. "We are strange, aren't we?" She slaps her guitar case on the ground in front of her. "We might as well giving them real reason to kick us out."

"Well," Connor chuffs just a little despairingly, "how can I say no to that?"

"You know all words?"

"I wouldn't want to ruin your song," he smiles a little sadly.

"It is ruin when I say is ruin," Adya insists. "I like to hear your voice."

"A-alright."

It's only her. It's only her- so he lets the chords fall out of his hands as he steps back to let her sing.

_Well I was sleeping in the garden, when I saw you, first._

_He put me deep, deep under, so that he could work._

If he could have ever have put her spoken voice to words, he would have said it was _lazy_ , almost. Her grasp of language was a languid, fluid thing, only as understandable as she felt on any given day.

But her _song_ was not.

It was this clear, rolling, matter-of-fact ramble, ringing- carrying the fluid nature of her words with the tired inevitability of a river.

_And like the dawn, you broke the dark,_

_and my whole earth shook._

_I was sleeping in the garden, when I saw you..._

It's easier than he remembers, to let his claws roll along the metal of the strings. It's easier than he remembers, to fall into the sober tone set in her song.

(It's easier than he remembers, to sing along.)

_At last,_ his dead song rises behind her voice, _at last..._

_Bones_

_of my bones and_

_flesh of my flesh, at last._

_You were the brightest shade of sun I had ever seen,_ their songs dance as their hands drum onto their guitars. _Your skin was gilded, with the gold of the richest kings._

_And like the dawn, you woke the world_

_inside of me._

( _You were the brightest shade of sun,_ Adya smiles, _when I saw you._ )

He'd _forgotten._ He'd forgotten how easily words once came to him.

He'd forgotten what it was what it was to have _song_ in his heart.

~~He'd forgotten what it was to _sing._~~

_At last..._

And just as easily as he'd forgotten, he remembers again.

( ** _And_ _you will surely be the death of me,_** his song whispers with life, disbelieving. **_B_** ** _ut how could I have known?_ **)

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~_Like The Dawn_ by The Oh Hellos is good~~


	15. You Blushing Bride, So Hide Your Pride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She cannot be in love.

* * *

Connor doesn't actually need to sleep that much. An hour spread throughout the day, he says, or maybe a full night a week if he pushed it.

(He avoids it, he admits. He's afraid to sleep, sometimes.)

He's managed to fall asleep with her a grand total of _every_ night they've been together.

He falls asleep, and he really does _fall_. The tense live wire of his movement, falling away from him until there's nothing left but a sleeping purr of song just a little too strong for his own body.

He falls with her (for her) but it's this quick, subtle shift. He is awake and then he's not, leaving her alone with the song in her ears and the weight of his body half snaked around her.

Wolf's tail thumps lazily against the foot of the bed, and she is, like so many other nights, left alone with Connor and the softness she traces along his face.

It's a Gem thing, she knows, but it's mind breaking how _soft_ he is. His hair is dense and plush like some kind of luxury fur she can't be bothered to know the name of, and the rest of him is all weird and _velvet_. Even his scars are soft, albeit in a different way- velvet gives way to veins of polished stone along the marble-white linage carved onto his face.

His brow twitches the tiniest bit with the shy trill creeping into his sleeping song, and Adya thinks _I could kiss him._

_Wait, what-_

She draws her hand back like it burns, because she really shouldn't be touching him if she's going to think like _that._

Because she does think about that, sometimes. (She thinks about it a lot.)

She thinks about how soft he is under her hands, how softly _his_ hands and claws trace along her wrists and curl through her hair. The softness of lips that had gently kissed her forehead a thousand times over winter. (She thinks of the oh-so casual way he'd done it, of the shocked wonder on his face when she'd kissed him for once. She thinks she'd like to see it again.)

And she does not love him.

She does not love him, because if she did she would be _better_ than this. She would be better than the touches she steals in his sleep, better than the closeness she imposes on them both, better than biting her tongue so she doesn't call him beautiful.

(Better than letting him loom too close in the way he doesn't quite know is wrong, half wanting him to press her against the nearest wall. Better than waking up next to him with the dream of trilled adorations still lingering behind her eyes.)

So she does not love him.

But Adya thinks of broad fangs hidden behind the small tilt of his smile, the way his song breathes her name like there was never anything easier, and she _wants._

* * *


	16. To Our Summer Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To you, to you, to always you.

* * *

"Connie's taking summer classes, right?"

Adya looks back at him like she's not entirely sure what the question has to do with anything. "I think so, yeah. Why?"

Her voice sounds different when she lapses back to Tamil. Not a bad sort of different, but... _different_. It's nice. (It's Adya, that's all.)

"Well- you _aren't_ , right? Where are you going to stay?"

Adya sighs. "I could- I could stay with my aunt and uncle. But I'm not sure if that's really appropriate when Kahaani is at school and I'll just be... hanging around in her room."

"You could stay with me." He blinks. "Again, I mean."

"Don't you still have that war going on?"

He gently waves his hands. "It's not a war, it's a civil unrest. We're basically just being police but bigger. There's a last cluster of pirates in Vanaheim and then that should be over with. I'll be back for summer! Sort of."

"Oh!" She looks shyly off to the side. "So it would be like Christmas again."

Connor almost laughs. "Ah, not quite. There's... some projects I'll be working on, but it won't call me away like the campaign did. I'll still be going out alot, though." He makes a mockingly sweeping motion with his arms. "You can imagine I'm not even there."

She laughs and crashes her head into his shoulder. "You better not abandon your wife like that all day."

"I would never," he smiles. "I'll come home every night."

_I will always, always come home._

He leans back.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

"It's nothing." His song just barely rings with life. "I'm just happy to be with you, that's all."

_~~And I will always, always come home to you.~~ _

* * *

**AD**

I think I'm in love with my wife.

* * *


	17. And It Was Quicker And Easier Than Falling Asleep,

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And it was only falling in love.

* * *

They play at it. Being wives.

_Are_ they? Wives. They are, aren't they?

They get eachother Valentine's gifts. (She got him clothes, of all things. He hasn't quite managed to part with the jacket she gave him.)

And- and they'll _go out_ \- they'll just go out, just the two of them.

They'll go out and eat, they'll watch a movie. She'll try to get him to trust street food, he'll try to get her to trust Wolf's ability not to break things.

They'll do anything, they'll do everything- everything and nothing.

...Are they in love?

(Is he in love?)

He thinks he might be. Of course, why wouldn't he? Why wouldn't he fall in love all too easily with a friend he'd found himself marrying, just to keep her a little less far away?

Why wouldn't he have fallen in love with the voice that _sang_ to him before they'd ever even known eachother's faces?

Someone he could, would, _had_ split apart for. (And Con and Thorn would do it again, if she'd asked.)

(Is he in love?)

And one day, like many others, he's drifting off again.

(He's been doing that alot around her- he's never felt so tired, he's never felt so _safe_.) Looking up at her with hazy eyes, because that's his wife- so soft, so lovely, ~~so song driven and beautiful.~~

"What if we were married?" he whispers.

"We _are_ married, you dumb puppy," she laughs as she lazily jostles his head.

"I could make breakfast," he tiredly goes on, "because you hate doing things in the morning. And you could have your own room in the house, for your music... whatever you wanted."

"And what about you?" she softly asks. "What would you get to have?"

"I get to come home to you," he says as he closes his eyes, "and you can tell me about your song."

"And you could tell me about the stars."

"Yeah," he breathes. "That'd be nice."

_We could take you there someday._

**Maybe we should.**

"And we wouldn't even have to be in love, y'know?" he sleepily smiles. "It's okay if we didn't, we wouldn't have to. But we could."

"Could we?" her voice almost shakes around him.

"It would be easy, wouldn't it," he half-murmurs. "So easy to just... fall."

"And what if- in this little world you're building," she hastily adds, "one of us already did?"

"Falling in love with your wife," his song mumbles into her. "How horrible."

Adya lets out a half-despairing laugh. "I guess you're right."

"Mm."

  
And he can't be bothered to care about anything else, really. Not now, not like this.

(Because a Gem's love never needs to be returned, only taken and never, _ever_ played with. And Adya? _Adya, my Adya, my adma_ , oh, she could never. She would never hurt him.)

So he lets himself fall to sleep, and his song drifts away,

_I love you._

_I love you._

_I love you._

_I love you._

* * *


	18. Losers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A pair of hopeless losers, the both of them.

* * *

And things didn't change much. It was nothing ever grand- no anguished declaration, no magic kiss.

Things simply went on as they always did. It's just that this time they weren't half-lying to themselves about how much they liked eachother's company, that's all.

"It's silly," she muses while they walk through a Renaissance fair. "I was so _worried_ about how _I_ felt about you that I didn't really consider the way _you_ felt about us."

"To be fair," he concedes, "I would have been happy even if you _hadn't_ felt that way about me, and- I guess it's hard, sometimes, for me to pick up on this kind of stuff." His smile tilts a little sadly. "Seriously, you kind of married a loser." He chuffs sharply as she slaps at his shoulder. " _Hey._ "

"You're not a loser," she grumbles. "I have better taste than that. Also I'm a bigger loser than you."

"Lies and slander."

"I got a crush on you and then decided to feel bad about it, I am definitely a bigger loser than you."

"I have to hold back the urge to bite strangers when they touch me," Connor refutes with a flatly raised brow.

"Yeah? Well-" Adya deflates just a bit. " _Okay, that's pretty bad_."

"Are you still a loser?" Connor barely smiles.

"We're both losers. We're the most loser losers to curse the Earth."

"I can live with that."

* * *


	19. Tyranny! Injustice! I Will Not Stand For It!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor's an activist like that.

* * *

"I thought this was meant to be the land of the free," Connor hisses.

"What-"

"AND YET!" He intones with great seriousness. "What is _this!_ "

He gestures gravely to the automatic door of the store they're trying to enter. There's a sticker that quite loudly proclaims _NO DOGS ALLOWED._

"They do that everywhere," Adya waves it off. "It's weirder if they _do_ let animals inside."

"Well, that sounds unfair. What did the animals ever do to them?"

"I think allergies. Also not wanting pets to run around and fight people and break things."

"Wolf would _never!_ "

"They ban all the animals to be safe."

" ** _Hmmm_** _._ "

With that ominous hum, he soberly leans down to look Wolf in the eyes. "You have to stay outside. The humans are racist."

Adya snickers.

"What."

She only wheezes at his all-too-serious question.

"Adya," he frowns. "Adya, the systematic injustice of societal prejudice is no joke- _Adya, stop laughing-_ "

* * *


	20. Incident

* * *

**DIRECT DIAMOND LINE**

**REPORTING:** His Radiance, Asteria Diamond

 **TO:** His Umbrance, Sunrose Diamond

**REGARDING:** Non-Interference, Ongoing Incident

_You don't need to cut your break short. The New York Central Park that has now become a distorted spatial housing to a dimension of sophont frogs is currently being dealt with._

_They are called the Anuran and appear to be relatively peaceful in comparison to humans. Currently establishing first contact, will later enter negotiations with New York about establishing a Gem embassy in the area and containments of possible distortion spread. You can shadow the talks later if you like, it would be good work experience for you._

=<>=

**RESPONDING:** His Umbrance, Sunrose Diamond

 **TO:** His Radiance, Asteria Diamond

**REGARDING:** Non-Interference, Ongoing Incident

_excuse me what the fuck_

* * *

**TO:** NYU Student

 **FROM:** Campus Newsletter

ATTENTION STUDENTS:

Due to an ongoing public incident in the Manhattan area which may affect student safety or attendance, all classes, school events, appointments, and club meetings have been cancelled, postponed, or transferred to online equivalents for the week after Spring Break.

* * *


	21. You Can't Tell ME What Do To!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Yes, she can.)

* * *

Adya looks down at the shopping cart. "Why is corn dog?"

"I put it there."

"Do- do you even know what kind of food is corn dog."

"I like dogs," Connor states simply.

"Connor, no. We don't have room in car."

"We're getting _other_ food," he stares down at the other contents of her cart.

"We don't have room to keep cold the corn dog. Put it back."

" _You can't tell me what to do_ ," his song grumbles with rusted chiptunes as he leans back on the ground to shuffle back to the frozen isle.

* * *


	22. The Last Color Is Sound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flowers under her eyes.

* * *

A thumb gently traces the small black flower under her left eye. "I've always wondered," Connor murmurs. "What's up with this?"

"Hm?" Adya's eyes shift with the realization. "Oh, _that._ It's a hogweed flower. Well, it's supposed to be shaped like one. Is just a tattoo."

"It's so small. I hardly notice it most of the time."

"The real flower _is_ very small. It's also very poison. It can... turn people blind."

"Then what are you doing putting that under your eye?" he asks.

" _Appa_ is a florist, so he know many kind of flowers." She laughs. "We used to joke that I could never be poisoned by hogweed, because I was already blind."

Connor tilts his head. "You don't seem very blind to me."

"I can still see," she clarifies, "but medical and legal, I am already blind."

"How does that even work?"

"Macular degeneration," she sounds before slipping back to Tamil, "I think is the American word. Mine is genetic, there's nothing anyone can do about it. This one?" She taps under her flower-marked eye. "Already gone. So bad that no glasses can fix it. I can never drive, and if I want to see far away I need my phone camera. I got that tattoo when the doctors told me it couldn't be fixed anymore. And one day..."

She softly moves his hand with hers, under her other eye.

"...I will have another flower, right here. And it will keep getting worse, until sound is the only color I can see."

"What if I-" Connor's other hand gently curls against her shoulder. "What if I could do something about it? Not _now_ , but... if I had a way."

"I already accepted this a long, long time ago."

"But if I _could_ ," he gently insists.

"I know how yours and Steven's power works," she smiles sadly. "You can't fix what was made broken."

"I know," his song wavers sadly. "I know, I don't mean that I could _fix_ it, I just- if I could do _something_ about it, would you take it?"

"Don't turn me into your burden, puppy."

"It's not a burden to _me_. Not if it's you." His hands gently cradle her face. "Would you at least let me try?"

"I..." she sighs. "...okay. I can try."

_We can try._

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~so anyway remember how i've been drawing a flower under her eye in all the official art. yeah~~


	23. Reconquered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The round two. Who can be stronger than five entire guys?

* * *

**Sweet Singer**

you on the road yet?

ye

lmao make out with your wife yet

CINNA DO NOT

i call it like i see it adya

SHUT

kiss your dumb rock wife

cowaerde

no

connor already told me y'all datin or smth

don't hide from The Yearning

COWARD

i'll do what i want Missus

Sparky Sparky Boom Man

coward. blind baby coward

just for that i'm going to go to five guys for dinner

oh

oh god

ADYA NO

ADYA YES

please think about the last time you ate there

consider your poor heart

i am strong

not strong enough for this

power of love

you think connor can save you from your own bad decisions?

...yes.

please NO

YOU HAVE SO MUCH TO LIVE FOR

[A picture of a bacon and cheese hotdog, a bacon cheeseburger,

fries with cajun seasoning, and a bacon milkshake.]

TOO LATE

nO

* * *


	24. Comments- Can Gems Sing Perfect Pitch?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It had all started so normally, you see.

* * *

**Can Gems sing perfect pitch?**

90,546 views • 15 hours ago

* * *

**HiImTrouble**

22 subscribers

I said I'd buy a Gem dinner if they sang a song my friend picked.

My friend picked Greased Lightning.

You can imagine what happened.

* * *

556 Comments _Sort By_

* * *

**TheCatsMeow**

Gems, you can either be cats or you can be birds. PICK ONE

**BORGER**

ah fuck i'm gay now

**MagicatQueen**

why is this song always raunchier than i remember

**TytoAlba**

oh my god does she even know

**Thatonecat**

**@TytoAlba** shh she's having fun

**6RockClimber9**

I guess no one's gonna call out the fucking PINK CADILLAC???

**Slimetutorialfreedownload**

CAN THIS CHANNEL GET 1M SUB WITHOUT VIDEO?!

**The[B]iamondAuthority**

you fools you're summoning the rock climbers

**NotTonyStark**

my date: so what's your sexuality

me flashing back to a video of a like 7 ft alien dancing and singing to john travolta's "greased lightning" in front of a pink cadillac convertible: it's complicated

**Warcriminal69**

yeah but did you buy her dinner

**HiImTrouble**

Yes i did buy both them and their wife dinner, Warcriminal69

**BecauseFuckYou**

gem: (wearing a cookie cat varsity jacket)

me: i see you're a man of culture as well

**MadeInHeaven**

EXCUSE ME WHY THE FUCK IS SHE SO FUCKING TALL

GOD

SHE COULD SNAP ME LIKE A FUCKING TWIG

**bonelessbizza**

god i wish that were me

**Thats-My-Grind**

we found another one for the rockclimbers boys

**AsteriaDiamondSaidRevolution**

yeah but what about the wink she threw at the lady she was with

**CloseUpMagic**

lmao that lady fucking died on the spot

**GnawMyBones**

this gem: a tree

this lady: a squirrel

**Dolphincorn**

i guess we're all just gonna sleep on the gem straight up harmonizing with themselves huh

**WifemeBD**

(noticing the gem wearing a variant of the imperial military uniform) haha fuck the police am i right

**Cletusthebanjo**

I'm still laughing at the short lady dying in the background the whole time

**CornEnthusiast**

the girl in the back is a rockclimber now i'm sorry i don't make the rules

**PlsAbductMeSpaceCatgirls**

this gem absolutely FUCKS

**TakeMeToTheSpaceIsleOfLesbos**

the fucking popped collar wink xe throws at the lady. haha yeah get it cadillac lady

**UwUpeasant**

bro that is the hugest dog i've ever seen in my life

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> usernames picked by the Discord group.


	25. Don't Feed The Animals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, why not?

* * *

**Long Con**

[A picture of a racoon sitting on a bench.]

A friend?

maybe don't pet that

she said she was hungry though?

...bruh you wanna run that shit by me again

said hungry

are you drunk

why the FUCK are you talking to racoons

like it's hard???

it's not like racoons have alot to say

Crows on the other hand

Connor Goes A Week Without Fucking Me Upside The Head With Some

Disney Princess Bullshit challenge

Cinna Goes A Week Without Bullying Me challenge

just don't feed the racoon buddy

[A picture of a racoon eating fries.]

whoops :)

you're going to regret this

you're going to regret this so much

no??? why???

You Gonna

Coward

i am not a coward

i am Strong

you aren't strong enough for racoons

this sounds like a challenge

DON'T

i'm gonna feed so many racoons

this can only end with Friendship

no wait

don't

connor

CONNOR GET BACK HERE YOU DIAMOND HIMBO

mm

i think i might have made a mistake

* * *

**Sweet Singer (Gay Coward)**

[A video of Connor being mobbed by

precisely 25 racoons, while Adya laughs

in the background.]

i told him

i fucking told him

...cinna what did you do

oop

What Did You Do

I'm Not Mad I Just Want To Talk

ah would ya look at that i think moon is calling me

CINNA GET BACK HERE

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gemsong has many uses


	26. You Don't Have To Tell Me Everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But even still, I'll listen all the same.

* * *

**AD**

So

uh

about A

about Adya and I.

Oh dear. Are you two alright?

We're married.

Yes, I was there for this.

And I

WE

I

...I love her.

Oh.

And I think she loves me too?

I know we w

we weren't supposed to, I think but

it just HAPPENED, it wasn't supposed to happen I

m sorry

Hey.

Don't be.

I'm glad you're happy, okay?

Both of you.

I think I'm glad, too.

Good! _:)_

You knew this would happen didn't you

I did not, actually!

YOU TOTALLY DID

YOU FUCKING LIAR

YOU TOTALLY FUCKING KNEW I'D FALL IN LOVE WITH MY WIFE,

YOU SHARD FLECK OF

Woah there! That's no way to talk to your diamond. _:)_

YOU'RE NOT MY DIAMOND

FUCK OFF

I'll be sure to plan your wedding. _:)_

hey

Hey

Az what the fuck does that mean.

_:)_

DAD

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Road Dogs_ is finished. We'll be doing some work for _Hole Puncher_ and _It's Me, Tony_.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments, critique, your eternal suffering, and kudos all equally welcomed.
> 
> Join the Discord server for behind the scenes nonsense, yearning questions of my questionable literary choices, and future stories. If you want more ways to support our work, you can find it on said discord or on my twitter!
> 
> https://discord.gg/xdhnqKj  
> https://twitter.com/aenorllelo
> 
> We have a TV Tropes page! Give it some editor love: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/ForADiamondIsAMarveledThing
> 
> (And a thanks to TomatoDiamond, a wyrm unstringed.)


End file.
